freelance photographer

sales associate

studio manager

photographer

retail assistant manager

Photos Unlimited

Don't go work for these folks. They clearly know nothing about people. If they do, they simply don't care. 

They make their money on selling prints, and the job is constantly to "upsell" packages. Taking pictures is just a means to an end for them. 

My manager seemed to be stressed out herself by the "sell, sell, sell" pressure she was under. Yet they have a great location - Walmart - that brings a lot of customers to their doors. But the seem to treat it an opportunity to exploit people, rather than service them;

The equipment is old, the software that you need to sue is old fashioned. At times, I had to tell a customer that "I will call you back" because the software for making appointments took so long to respond that it was embarrassing. 

I watched my manager talk a customer out of her disappointment with a photograph taken of her child which showed some obvious facial blotches by saying "I don't really notice it, and her smile is so cute that people will not notice it either." Taking the time to do a different pose would have solved this in the original shoot.. But the manager was so under pressure to sell as many additional prints as she could  that she tried to talk the customer out of her disappointment. The manager seems to  imply did not care about the woman's obvious disappointment. T

A family group came in. The grandmother had tension bandages wrapped around her legs, indicating to me that she might not be comfortable standing for a long period of time. I invited her to take a seat as we welcomed them in. My manager "snapped" at me, "No, No, don't invite them in until we have registered them in at the front". We ended up being able to do this quite easily because I ignored my manager and we engaged this person in the dialogue needed to register her in the software while she was comfortable sitting down. 

I opened 5 minutes early yesterday afternoon after the lunch break because we were expected a family for an appointment shoot and 
I wanted to be welcoming to them. Ther manager had gone out o the lunch break. When the manager arrived, she snapped "Don't ever open early" at me in front of the customers.

When I was ready to leave on my second day, the manager was still deeply involved in trying to upsell a family group on prints. I indicated that I needed to leave since I had an appointment that I could not be late for. The manager said to me - "Fine ,close the doors;. I will see you next Monday." Next Monday was the next day that we were scheduled to work on the same day." Earlier in the day, she had told me that I would be working the next day with another person who although new, could help train me if we were not very busy.. 

Today, the manager walked in at the end of my half day shift and said aggressively ' What are you doing here, I told you not to work today last night when you were leaving". I responded - "No, you said I will see you next Monday." 

At that point, the manager, continuing to be angry with me in front of the other person working there, said "This is not going to work out - I want you to take your things and leave." So I did. 

Clearly the way I was treated is no different from the way many others working at various Photo Unlimited locations have been treated by their managers. What is about this compamy? Do they train their managers to be discourteous and unclear with their staff, or do they just pressure the managers so much that they become abusive of the people who work for them under the stress? My experience is clearly not unique. 

If you love photography, like working with people and enjoy their pleasure when they see pictures of themselves - Run as fast as you can from working at a Photo Unlimited Portrait Studio and find a more reasonable place to work.  This is clearly one company that deserves negative stars. Too bad, Indeed does not have them in its reviews. 

If the way I was treated is the way the manager is treated, then reason for her behavior is clear. Lots and lots of research studies have shown that people treat the people working for them the same way as their managers treat them. Culture flows down the organizational hill.

The woman that interviewed me was the District Manager. The original interview was supposed to be for a part time Studio Associate position. It was to be held on a Sunday, near to the end of March. On the day of, I woke up to 2 emails; both from the District Manager. The first one was received at 2:45 A.M. asking if I would be okay to come in for 2 P.M. instead of the earlier set time of 11:00 A.M. The second was received at 8:05 A.M. saying she needed to reschedule the interview to the coming Wednesday. Fast  forward to Wednesday now, I got there around 15 minutes early...but the DM wasn't there. And she didn't show up until more than an HOUR later, after initially telling her associate on site that she would be there in 20 minutes of my getting there. After that, the interview went well, give or take. Instead of hiring me as an associate, she actually hired me as the Studio Manager. At the time I thought that this was awesome, until I found out what I was dealing with.

After that, I had to drive 48 minutes every day to and from work. Without being paid mileage. The store had NO OTHER EMPLOYEES therefore I was working there 6 days a week every week. The DM then dropped on me the task of looking for people to come work for the store also knowing I had NO previous experience as a manager and no one had trained me to interview other people. Any time I had to miss work, my DM would say "the store can't be closed" and either tell me to find someone to cover (again there was no one else working the store on top of the fact that the closest store to where I was was over 30 minutes away) or threaten to terminate my position at the studio. There was even a time where I could barely move and I told her and all she had to say to me was that "if I couldn't make it out to the studio then this job wasn't for me" (even though I hardly ever missed a day). If you asked her to speak to one of the other stores to ask if they would send people over she would always say "I don't have to talk to anyone. That's not my job that's yours." If I told her the store needed materials "you can go ahead and buy them then I'll reimburse you." However, she never explained to me that wouldn't be same day. It would be the next pay check.

If I knew that I had to get cover for a day coming up, she would always just tell me to ask someone in the group chat, but again, I was too far for all of the stores. Everyone would just look at my message and never answer. Especially the DM. Even if I really needed to talk to her about something going on in the studio, if she didn't think she needed to answer she would literally leave you on read. 9 times outta 10 if you called she would either decline you or just straight up not answer. She loved bossing us around and giving us extremely high sales goals when she knew some stores couldn't even dream of making that much in a week much less a day.

The equipment that we worked with too was ancient. And they never gave us new things either. They would just "fix" whatever broke and send you another used piece of equipment, expecting it not to break again. I had to fix the entire lighting set up in my studio because none of it worked and I had nothing to show for it! In fact, The DM brushed it off saying when she was working there before me everything worked, as if I came in there and broke everything!

Honestly, this wasn't even half of my experience working here. It was just AWFUL! I would NEVER EVER recommend someone working here. Do so at your own discretion. But seriously...REALLY look into this company before you decide to work for them. Their treatment of their employees is WAY below satisfactory.

I am a photographer outside of working for this company, and there is no way this company should be calling themselves professional photographers. 
To start off, training wasn't thorough, and I was left to figure things out on my own. My manager would tell me to do things in front of a customer without showing me how first, and just expecting me to know, which was sometimes very embarrassing and demeaning. The company also hires people with absolutely no photography experience, and barely gives them any training.
After training you are left to work alone every day, and that's where things really start going downhill. If I had a problem, I was told to text or call my manager. Usually she wouldn't answer my texts at all, and when I called, she was always very annoyed. Every single day I went in something wasn't working (cameras, printers, computer systems, and sometimes the whole store would be down). The equipment is outdated, worn out, and dirty. The "professional" photo shoot camera (canon 40D, no where near professional quality these days) was practically a dinosaur and barely worked. The lens was old and very stiff, which made it impossible to get the camera to focus during shoots, and I complained to my manager several times. When a customer finally complained to my manager, I got a nasty note from the manager, saying there's nothing wrong with the camera, and I was doing it wrong. Again, I am a photographer, and know my way around a camera... The backdrops and props were very dirty and wrinkled, and we were expected to put newborn babies on these items, which I found very unsanitary. The software used to upload and sell photos increased the exposure on photos, causing many pictures to be over-exposed, especially baby pictures, and the "editing" options were outdated and poor quality. Many customers complained about this. The photo prints always came out with an unpleasant green or yellow tint after the printing company toned them.
The company doesn't care about customers at all, and is just in it for the money.
All products were overpriced, especially passports, which cost $30 each, and the passport camera appeared to be made in the early 2000's. 
Up-selling was a huge requirement, so anytime I didnt have a customer in I had to call old customers, and try to convince them to come in again. I was also expected to go out into walmart and pretty much beg people to come in for photo shoots right away.
During training my manager talked about how she watches movies while on the clock, and said she has considered going to get a manicure on a slow day, but when I worked she'd leave me notes telling me i need to do more of this and that, even though I met quotas most days.
Terrible company, terrible managers, terrible job. I quit because I believe in upholding a specific image, and quality in my photography, and I couldn't be proud of what I created at photos unlimited.

A typical work day meant juggling passport photos, photo shoots, sale, editing, and cashier work. You would occasionally have a coworker to help but frequently would have to juggle several sets of unhappy and frustrated customers.

There was no staff room, and we were not allowed to eat our lunch in the closed store behind our desks. There was also no refrigerator, so the only place to have lunch or sit down was in the McDonald's also in the Walmart. 

At slow points, we were made to clock out for 1-3 hours to work split shifts. We often missed our lunch breaks and weren't paid for them. We also used misleading tactics to promote our photography special events, and were reprimanded for actually helping our customers acquire the products they wanted (still making decent sized sales), instead of lying about what products we offered to sell our overpriced photography packages. The manager also would make staff do monthly inventory instead of herself so she could go home early.

The flash for the passport photos was broken, and they never replaced it. Once, while dealing with 3 sets of angry customers (because I was alone), my hand slipped, and I was mildly electrocuted. I was overall okay, but my heart momentarily stopped. 

A few weeks later, we had a photography special event. A young family of African immigrants came in for photography of their baby. In the process of explaining that they had to pay for the photographs (the session itself was *free*)- a one and a half year old baby ended up electrocuting himself on the flash. He started screaming, and his hand literally had smoke coming off of it. My manager was editing photos close by, and made ZERO attempts to intervene. I was left, frantic and in tears, to explain that their baby had been mildly electrocuted and that while he was probably fine, they should probably seek medical advice. After the customers cleared out, livid and probably thinking I was a racist, my manager came over to me (she had be right there the whole time, ignoring the situation) and calmly explained "next time, please use the word 'shocked' instead of 'electrocuted'".

Unless you are desperate for employment, and even then, I would not recommend working for this company. The complete lack of empathy for their staff, their lack of empathy for an electrocuted baby, and the low pay makes it a despicable place to work. I am honestly baffled they're still a company.

The DM doesn't care about the employees,  you are constantly being told ( indirectly and directly) that you aren't doing good enough,  and then you can pull a great day and they say nothing.  
You are expected to lie to customers and they have double standards for customers who "fuss". Making you look like a bad employee to the customer. 
The studios are dirty and are in desperate need of an upgrade. And if you ask for the materials you need you are told to "buy it yourself " or "we will get back to you" and then nothing happens.  
There are no incentives to work hard, and your expected to have all your appointments booked for every 15 min and work alone. They are to cheap to hire people with actual experience and don't provide proper training. 
Granted some studios are really good and have great DMs, but this one doesn't.  
I hate going to work in the morning and I don't recommend this job to anyone who likes to advance,  grow, and feel valued.
Our camera and equipment is constantly breaking down, and when they send you a "new " one, it's the same old camera from another studio. The computers are from 2003 and are so slow. You are constantly apologize for how long everything takes.

The On location photos are a complete joke. They advertise thsee amazing portraits but they don't teach associates how to shoot outside.  And you are expected to use your own DSLR for a half hour of your regular wage, which is completely ridiculous.

They also charge about $15 more for passport photos then anyone else in the city. Customers who know this get angry with associates because they could have saved so much money going somewhere else, especially for a big family. (One family paid $150)

Product and prices aren't too bad in the collection area, but I think if they upgraded their systems and tech they would have better quality.

The company suffers from poor management, with the owners, who are based in the US, having limited understanding of the specific operations at each studio, as they only visit annually. Their primary focus is on sales numbers rather than employee satisfaction or loyalty. This results in a work culture driven solely by profitability, leading to dissatisfaction among employees. Bonus structures are frequently changed and delayed, since company believe the goal is too easy to achieve. This causing frustration and the departure of many skilled workers who with company for long time that they all left company.

The company’s approach to business development is narrowly focused on cost-saving rather than revenue generation. Company bought Adobe software including PS. However they still rely on free online editing tool Canva for photo editing, resulting in poor-quality images with missing/terrible details that looks like people are floating in backgrounds. Their outdated equipment and reliance on free Wi-Fi from Walmart further illustrate their penny-pinching attitude, which has driven skilled photographers to leave quickly. This emphasis on minimizing expenses over investing in quality and efficiency undermines their overall business success.

The company relies on competition to allocate new props and backgrounds to studios based on their sales and bookings, yet the existing props in all studios are outdated but they don't spend money to update. As the result, some employees are purchase props and backgrounds out of their own pockets.

Despite these issues, the team members you work with are generally friendly and supportive, and some customers are also pleasant to interact with.

Corporate management is only concerned about cost cutting, won't give any time to do overlapping shifts for training or busy periods (unless you have 4 photo shoots booked per hour). You're expected to do a proper photo shoot, and sell them their photos and give good customer service, BUT you have to drop everything and help walk in passport customers. 

They expect you to have really good sales but then offer multiple photo shoots and passport photos for the cost of one photo shoot. If a customer doesn't want to buy anything we are supposed to discount all our hard work to almost nothing in a desperate attempt to get some money in the door to keep the company afloat. Any customer that complains gets their photos for free from corporate which only attracts more free loading customers. Then corporate management gets mad at you for low sales. Management is calling you every single day to point out all the unattainable sales goals you haven't met (that are 1.5 times the sales the company made last year) and then makes you tell them what YOU can do to make their situation better. But they will only pay you minimum wage.

On top of all of this you have to bring in 10 new bookings every day by cold call old customers or bothering people in Walmart who just want to be left alone. They never use any real feedback to modernize this company. The cameras are about 20 years old and the studio equipment is constantly breaking. The backdrops are either embarrassingly wrinkled or too small to fit more than 2 people on it. They've been promising renovations for years and then never do anything. Management will hire anyone that applies here and most of the time they have no photography experience.

Worked for Photos Unlimited for 9 months, started as a seasonal for Christmas. The job posting claimed it was full-time, yet was being only given part-time hours. Could only afford to keep two people working there after Christmas, but I was allowed to be an actual part-time associate due to another co-worker leaving the job. The first district manager I had was nice, usually understanding, but when she left and we got a new one, I wanted to quit so badly. you would get freaked out at if you couldn't book 5 appointments a day, had to offer free pictures to everyone to attempt to get them to buy stuff (then upper management complains that we are losing money... stop giving out free stuff then.) constantly nagging about not selling enough OLPs, though no one wanted to buy it because IT IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY. Everything was OLP OLP OLP. People always chewing the associates out for the outrageous prices. I was part-time and only worked 6 hours once every two weeks. My manager was fantastic, but the higher-ups do not have a clue what they are doing. Someone complains and wants a refund? Tell them the policy of NO REFUNDS, then they call customer service and get told "yes we will give you a refund" then the ASSOCIATE will get chewed out for creating a customer service issue?????? This "business" (I use the term loosely) needs to get their act together because it was the worst and most stressful job I ever had. I worked there for 9 months and only had 5 hours put away towards vacation pay, goes to show how much I didn't work due to lack of hours. 

There was nothing enjoyable about this job and I feel SO BAD for the person that replaced me.

Other then the fact that management is always at a conflict with it's district managers it's a great place to learn what you need to know about photography. You'll also learn that it's not a good place to stay.

-The workload and the amount one is to be payed is unrealistic for what they demand in return. 
-The push comes to shove from the top and trickles down the line of command.
-They may receive renovations but their camera equipment, studio equipment, lighting practices, hardware/software equipment and "pose guides" are outdated to say the least.
(note: I've worked with three of their Canon 7Ds. When attempting to focus on the subject the camera will ALWAYS fail to do so at least the first two attempts. Which is probably an outstanding mark i'd have to mention)
-The communication between employees, managers, and district managers are miniscule.
- This one is likely preference and bias but it has to be said. The complete lack of direct speaking on all accounts. The over usage of passive aggression to get a point across or something done.

I only suggest this job if you need any one or more of the following:

1. Need to learn if there is a market in photography
2. Want to master selling anything
3. To truly understand what running a photography business is like day to night.
4. To be pushed to learn very quickly to learn how to run the business in as little as 2 days whether busy or not.
5. Want a quick difficult way to learn truths of photography everyone else seems to leave out.

The only reason why I put 3 stars (which I feel is one star to much) is because of my personal gain on my research.

The lowest point of my life was working for these ungrateful, unprofessional, scamming con artists they call a "portrait studio". You are demanded to squeeze money out of the poor customers pockets... persistently offering different "packages" that no one in their right mind would buy. All while using outdated camera equipment, flashes that literally electrocute you, props and backdrops that look like they're straight from the go-go 80's, and editing on a ghetto software system that shuts down on you every so often. You are forced to walk around the Walmart and bombard people with "free photoshoots" that end up being not-so-free because you corner them into buying packages. The managers know nothing at all about what they're doing and seem to be on a different page about how to present your pitch and sell your terrible quality photos.  They charge an unreasonable amount of money for passport photos and you end up having to lie about how much cheaper they are at your local Costco just to make a sale. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. At the end of every two weeks or so you are rated (either poorly or well) by how much you sell and everyone that works for the company sees the list. If you want to feel humiliated, depressed, under appreciated, and worthless, this is the company for you!

One last hurrah before I go... I tried to book time off 3 MONTHS IN ADVANCE and the manager told me I couldn't. The prison system is literally denied less freedoms.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Freelance photographer 19 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour
Sales associate 19 salaries reported	$17.86 per hour
Studio manager 21 salaries reported	$19.98 per hour
Photographer 3 salaries reported	$16.75 per hour
Retail assistant manager 10 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour

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